A Simple Mission

by Daniel Gibbs

  He glanced at Hale in time for her to look to him. She shook her head, her eyes lowered. "Colonel, the plasma leaked into the fuel tank chamber," she said. "She's gone, sir."

  Hendricks Station was a standard Naval Support Station in orbit over Phi Philomena 3, the system's only inhabited planet. The oceanic world below was not densely populated, sporting just a few research stations across the globe and two mining stations on the planet's sole continent, extracting strategic ores needed for the war effort.

  The station itself was a toroid with an inner cylinder attached to four arms linking it to the outer torus, which was lined with docking platforms. The ships docked reflected the mixed military and civilian nature of the facility, with private ore haulers and supply ships using their designated areas while two-thirds of the ring was reserved for military use.

  One such dock was now the home of the broken Laffey. One of her aft engines was split entirely open from the failure of the new drives. Henry stood by himself at an observation window looking out at the sight of the old destroyer. He smoldered quietly at the sight and what led to it. In his mind, he composed and re-composed the letter that he’d be writing to Maria Soto's family. She'd certainly saved the ship and dozens of her crewmates' lives by manually draining the fuel reserves feeding the fusion drives.

  Now there was nothing left of her but that fact. The plasma created by those same drives had seen to it.

  The same was true of Dr. Larkin and some of his staff, and another eighteen members of the Laffey's crew. Eighteen more letters Henry had to write. The terrible day was almost over, but the grief it was bringing never would.

  Major Hale stepped up beside him. "We didn't have many wounded. A few bruises and bumps from the explosion," she said. "They're in Hendricks’ infirmary now."

  "Good," Henry managed to say.

  "Sir, you were following orders," Hale pointed out. "Erhart and Faulkner wanted the drive at full."

  "Twenty-seven people are dead because I followed their orders. Needlessly dead," Henry answered. "I should’ve refused."

  "They would have relieved you. On the spot. It still would’ve happened, sir."

  "Maybe, but it wouldn't have been on my watch," Henry said firmly, his jaw still clenched. "I don't know what Erhart thinks he was doing…"

  "Lieutenant Colonel James Henry?"

  The voice was a man's, a rumbling baritone that drew the attention of both officers. A major in CDF uniform with a tan complexion and dark brown hair approached, flanked by two MPs. Henry noted the insignia of a JAG officer on the major. He returned the salute given him. "Major, what can I do for you?" He felt some surprise that things were moving so fast, even if he preferred to get it over with.

  "Sir, I am Major Karl Huerta," the man said. "Judge Advocate General's office. I’m here to take you into custody."

  "Custody?" Hale blurted out. "What the hell…"

  Henry let the word echo in his mind a few times. A Board of Inquiry didn't take potential witnesses into "custody." "Major, please explain," Henry asked.

  "Of course, sir," said Huerta, still as quietly and calmly perfunctory as before. "I am here to place you under arrest, Colonel Henry, until your general court-martial can be convened."

  Court-martial? The announcement left Henry reeling for a second. He recovered just enough to ask, "What are the charges, Major?"

  "In the matter of the near-loss of the CSV Laffey during technical testing exercises, Lieutenant Colonel James Henry, you are charged with dereliction of duty and twenty-seven counts of murder by depraved indifference to life, sir," Huerta replied. "Please, come with me."

  Hale's jaw dropped.

  Henry nearly dropped in his tracks. He felt struck dumb by Major Huerta's announcement. None of this made sense. None of it.

  He'd expected hard questions at a Board of Inquiry. He was already steeling himself for the loss of any hope of a command position in his career, given the hostility from Faulkner and his company. But a general court-martial? Charges of murder? As if he were responsible for the deaths of Captain Soto, Doctor Larkin, and the others? None of it, not a bit of it, made any sense.

  Just as the Marines stepped forward to take him, Henry recovered enough to act. "Lead the way, Major," he said, his voice quiet, numb, as his mind tried and failed to process what was happening.

  Huerta said nothing more as he and the MPs marched Henry away.

  Shadow Wolf

  Open Space

  11 April 2559

  * * *

  Another day was ending for the Shadow Wolf. Henry stepped into his cabin, just aft of his office, and removed his jacket. He set it on the hook he'd installed on the bulkhead wall and was in the middle of considering a shower when the door chime went off. He walked up and answered it.

  Felix was at the door, a bottle of Scotch in one hand and two glass tumblers in the other. "I know what time of year it is," he began, "and what's going through your mind. So here I am, Jim."

  Henry gave him a small grin and invited him in. He didn't bother trying to hide the pain in the smile either. He offered the single chair in his quarters for Felix and sat on his bed, wrinkling the sheets from the military-crisp perfection that habit required of him every morning. Felix slid his round table over and poured the contents of his bottle into both glasses. "Straight from New Hebridia.”

  "Good stuff, then," Henry said. "Uncle Charlie always swore by New Hebridean Scotch." He considered the glass and its contents. "We went through a whole bottle of this stuff while we were working on the ship."

  "Your Uncle Charlie is the best-damned ship fixer in the Coalition, Jim," Felix boasted. "How is he?"

  "Still more good days than bad, I hear. Doctors are saying the disorder's being controlled by the meds, but they can't guarantee it'll last."

  "Well, we'll have to swing by Tylerville soon, let the old fellow see how well we're doing." Felix took a small gulp. "How are you holding up this year?"

  "About as well as I ever do," Henry admitted. "Thirteen years, Felix. Quite a lot of time."

  "Not so long. Not long enough to forget." Felix shook his head. "When I heard you'd been arrested, the Epaminondas and her squadron had just sent the League running from Kalypso. The news ruined the victory celebration for me. Killed the mood flat."

  Henry nodded. "Sorry to hear that."

  Felix pulled the glass away from his mouth to speak. "Nothing for you to be sorry about." He then took another sip of the drink.

  Henry finished his own. Almost by automatic, he refilled the tumbler. "A lot for me to be sorry about."

  "No. I mean it. None of the guilt and shame crap." Felix held the glass away. "I don't give a damn what the service says, Jim. I know you, so I know what happened. If anything, I should be the one apologizing."

  "For?"

  "For not getting out sooner." Felix took a quick swig. He winced a little; he'd downed a bit more than he expected. "I should’ve come out here and joined you a hell of a lot sooner than I did."

  "You were doing your duty, just as your old man wanted," Henry said. "Don't worry about it." He shook his head and put down another gulp. He wouldn't drink too much more, he thought. No need for a hangover in the morning.

  Then again, with memories of his arrest at Hendricks Station now filling his head, Henry decided a hangover might just be the result of the night after all.

  4

  Hendricks Station

  Phi Philomena System, Terran Coalition

  April 19, 2546

  * * *

  The wheels of military justice turned abnormally quickly. The day after his arrest, Henry was assigned his attorney. Major Celinda Snow of the JAG office came to him, got his statement, and went off to interview those present in the Bridge and on the Solzhenitsyn at the time of the incident. Two days later, she retrieved him from his cell in the Hendricks Station jail and brought him to a conference room in the station's administrative section.

  Major Huerta was waiting, as were several officers
. Some were JAG, but Henry was certain one was from Erhart's staff. He met their eyes directly as he sat beside Snow. She was Canaan born, with a tanned bronze tone to her skin that seemed to defy her last name, built tall and robust.

  "Now that you're here, we can begin this deposition," Huerta noted. "I've gone over your statement provided by defense counsel. It raises some eyebrows."

  Given those words, it was now clear Huerta was the investigating officer for the JAG. He would possibly even be the prosecutor in the court-martial if it proceeded. Henry was wondering if there would be one, or if this was just an overreaction to satisfy someone back on Canaan. He shifted those considerations into the back of his mind and asked, "In what way, Major?"

  "Your account of the incident, Colonel. You still hold that you did not defy orders?"

  "I did not, Major," said Henry.

  "And you will state this under oath?"

  "The most binding oath I can give, yes."

  An older officer, a man with Henry's coloration and the “golden bird” rank insignia of a full colonel, shifted in his chair. His name tag read "Serrano." "The log is clear that you were given a direct order, Colonel."

  By this point, Henry was confused as to what they were getting at. "I was, sir. General Erhart personally ordered me to put the fusion drives to full."

  Serrano and Huerta exchanged looks, and there was murmuring from the others.

  "That is your testimony, Colonel?" Serrano asked. "That you were ordered to put the test drives to full burn?"

  "It is, sir."

  Snow noticed Henry's look and the growing frown on Serrano. "My interviews with the other command officers said the same."

  A sharp quiet came over the assembled. As Serrano and Huerta conversed quietly in whispers, Henry leaned over to do the same with Snow. "What's going on?"

  "I'm not sure," she said.

  The quiet conversation ended. "Major Huerta is curious about this, but frankly, I don't have the patience for it," Serrano announced. He glared at Henry with profound contempt. "I have seen many self-serving rationalizations in my time, but I've rarely seen an officer of the Terran Coalition attempt what you have here, Colonel."

  Henry noted the confused look on Snow's face and knew it matched his. "I'm afraid I'm in the dark, sir."

  "Then let me enlighten you, Colonel," Serrano said, his voice heavy with sarcasm. "We have the comm logs from the Laffey and the Solzhenitsyn, and the statements from General Erhart and other witnessing officers. We know full well that the general ordered you to cut power to the drives."

  Henry heard the words, in all of their constrained anger and contempt, but they didn't process at first. They were so manifestly untrue he couldn’t imagine them being spoken.

  "I don't know what you think you can accomplish by giving us such a blatantly false statement," Serrano continued, "but it sickens me to think that you would even try. I was prepared to accept that you were simply negligent, or perhaps too confident in the engineers. But for you to outright lie…"

  "It's not a lie, sir," Henry said. His voice sounded stiff to his ears and entirely unconvincing. But there would be, could be, no emotion or energy in the reply. He was still too stunned to manage it.

  Snow recovered more quickly. "Respectfully, Colonel, whatever the logs say, the Laffey personnel on the bridge all confirm the order was to set the drives to full burn. There may have been an error in the logs."

  "There was none, Major." The speaker was the officer with staff insignia on his uniform. His rank insignia was that of a lieutenant colonel. "I heard the order personally."

  "And you are?" asked Snow.

  "Lieutenant Colonel Pierce Farley, of General Erhart's staff," said the man, his tone matter-of-fact. "You haven't had the opportunity to interview me yet, so I provided my statements to Colonel Serrano." Farley directed his brown eyes directly on Henry. "I was there on the flag bridge when General Erhart received confirmation of the plasma being hotter than expected. He immediately ordered Colonel Henry to reduce power, and upon the order being protested, restated his order. We were all quite worried when the colonel refused to obey." Farley crossed his arms. "Twenty-seven people, Colonel. All dead because, what, you were enjoying the moment?"

  "I was ordered to use full burn," Henry said. He felt like the world was breaking apart around him. Like reality no longer made sense.

  "Do you expect us to take your word over that of a distinguished officer like General Erhart?" Serrano asked in a vicious tone. "And the word of his entire staff? And the logs themselves?"

  "I was ordered to full burn," Henry repeated. His eyes faced forward, staring at nothing.

  "As defense counsel, I request access to these logs, and the means to independently verify them," Snow said.

  "Permission denied," Farley said. "Those logs pertain to a test of classified technology which could be leaked."

  "You have logs that directly contradict the testimony of my client and his subordinates," Snow retorted.

  "Logs and testimony, Major," Serrano said. "If it were just the logs, it would be different. But your line of questioning only works if you are supposing a conspiracy against your client within the CDF, and I'm not about to humor such a defense."

  "With all due respect, sir, the choice isn't yours." Snow's voice was acidic. "Even if you're right, even if my client willfully disobeyed orders and somehow talked his entire bridge crew into an attempt to cover that up, you still have to prove that in a court-martial. And court-martial regulations…"

  "...are superseded by wartime security needs, Major," Farley said. "You're not getting those logs."

  Snow shook her head. "Then I'm going to question their authenticity directly. And I'm going to protest to the top about this. You’re denying my…"

  "Major, enough," Serrano barked. "I get you're defending your client, but frankly, the only reason I called this meeting was to see for myself what kind of man Colonel Henry is. Now that I've seen it, I'm disgusted. He's getting a dishonorable dismissal from service whatever else happens, but beyond that, he has two choices. He can acknowledge his crime, and we'll shave a decade or two off of his sentence, or he can continue this… charade, and I'll see him in a hard labor stockade for life."

  The vitriol in Serrano's voice failed to reach Henry. He kept searching in his mind for how this could be happening, how this could be true, and the answers, he wasn't even sure of that. He wasn't even sure he was sane anymore. The entire world seemed to have gone absolutely mad. As if he woke up and was living the life of another James Henry in another world. When Serrano's hand slapped the table and he bellowed, "I require an answer, Colonel!" Henry didn't even flinch.

  "Colonel Henry." Snow glanced at him. When Henry didn't react, she reached for his arm and nudged it. "Colonel, I'm only your advocate. Do you want to agree to plead guilty?"

  The word "guilty" registered, and Henry's reaction was automatic. "I'm not guilty," he said. "My orders were to use full burn."

  "We're done here," Serrano said, disgust still evident in his voice. He stood and was the first to the door, Farley close behind. Huerta was the last. He glanced to them, and for a moment, a look of bewilderment came to his face before he, too, stepped through.

  Two MPs entered the room from the same door. "We're to take him back to his cell, ma'am," said one.

  "I need a few minutes with my client, Corporal," Snow said. "Please leave us undisturbed."

  He nodded, and they departed, leaving Snow and Henry alone.

  "My orders were to use full burn," Henry said again. "That's… that's what happened."

  "Colonel, I have to say this isn't going to be an easy case," Snow said. When Henry said nothing, she grabbed him by the shoulders and jostled him, forcing him to look to her. She noticed the dull look in his brown eyes and bellowed, "Attention!"

  Ingrained instinct broke through the haze of unreality, memories of years of being called to attention doing their work. Henry's spine straightened, and his hand came up in
an automatic salute. He blinked.

  Snow sighed. "Let's leave that between us, hrm?" she asked, since, generally speaking, one did not order a superior officer to stand to attention. "Colonel, are you okay?"

  "No," he answered.

  "Good. You shouldn't feel okay, or I'd think you were drugged," she answered. "What's wrong?"

  "It's… it's all wrong," Henry stammered. From there, the words just seemed to roar out of his throat, to defy the unreality that had just unfolded around him. "I was ordered to use full burn, Major! My entire bridge crew heard it. I protested it. It… it was a ridiculous risk, and it cost Dr. Larkin and Captain Soto their lives. More lives if Soto hadn't sacrificed herself to vent the interior fuel tanks!"

  Snow listened to him speak the words without comment. As he finished, she swallowed, and her face paled. "Then… if that's true… this is a conspiracy," she said. "General Erhart and his officers have altered the logs on both ships. Probably all of the ships in the exercise. And they're giving false testimony by sustaining the accusations against you."

  "A conspiracy," Henry said the words, but it just didn't feel right. His whole life, he'd seen the CDF as heroes, exemplars of courage and honor. Even after joining the service, going to Halsey Station Naval Academy, and years of service in the war, even after all of the times he'd seen CDF personnel not live up to the standard, that a general of the CDF, a general of Erhart's achievements and rank, could be leading such a thing. It was unthinkable.

  And yet—and yet—it made sense.

  "They're protecting Kalling," Henry said quietly. "Kalling… they cut corners."

  "They did?" asked Snow.

  "Captain Soto briefed me on it," Henry said. "Their design team skipped tests. They didn't account for everything. They were in such a rush to get the drives in action… they didn't even know how energetic, how hot the plasma byproduct of the reaction would get when the reaction was set to full."